Mars
Mars (Spanish: Marte, Chinese: 火星 or Huoxing, 'Fire Star') is a tiny world, close neighbor to Earth. Fourth world from the yellow main sequence star, Sol, Mars is located in the Central Zone radius of the Galaxy. Mars is one of the longest continuously inhabited (by sapient beings) worlds in the galaxy, though it trails far behind Madapar in that regard. It was inhabited by the indigenous Desan civilization up until the Siege of Mars 60,000 years ago. The aforementioned siege destroyed what was left of its ability to support life, and the Desan who survived fled. Centuries later, Ishamshuk explorers settled the planet as a research outpost dedicated to preserving Desan artifacts for cataloging and returning to Ichtalu for its Great Library of the Ancients. This outpost was maintained for millenia, well beyond the point that the Ishamshuk had taken everything of note from the planet elsewhere, but they had some interest in studying the emerging civilization on Earth. It was then humans that colonized and settled Mars to a great extent, and made some attempts to restore its biosphere. Mars has two tiny moons, now called Phobos and Deimos, with no recorded establishment by any civilization, although they had a significant role in Desan mythology. History Desan rule and Stellar Empire If it were not for Mars and the civilization which emerged there during the Classical era, the Solar System may not have appeared on alien starmaps. In comparison, Earth and its interstellar civilization is not considered noteworthy enough on its own. The Desan were one of if not the most influential civilization in this region of the galaxy, laying the groundwork for ongoing political, astrographical, and technological conventions. The empire they built was so large (indeed the largest single empire ever recorded in the Milky Way) that most civilizations around today were at one point included within its sphere of influence. Desan civilization was nearly always on the verge of extinction from its earliest times. The Desan inherited a dying biosphere, with a shrinking ocean and vast deserts. Farmland was marginal at best and so most early Desan civilizations were pastoral nomads or practiced aquaculture. It was the latter group that came to build cities along the coastline of the world ocean or near other bodies of water. Human exploration and settlement Mars was first visited and thus settled by humans in the Pre-Warp era, in A.D. 2049, after a multitude of survey missions with robotic probes. Life in this early Martian settlement was hard, but the different philosophy of the time meant that the settlers had access to flora and fauna to provide for their sustenance. With artificial manipulation, through the use of giant mirrors and cyanobacteria, Mars was able to support a small biosphere of Earth lifeforms, including humans and their livestock. Surface radiation was, however, still an issue, and so living on the surface required extensive radioactive protection and shielding. The first human 'Martians' thus lived in two bipolar groups. The Ranchers came and made a living off of their livestock, while nomadic groups roamed the Martian surface in roving bands that either poached from the ranchers' herds or maintained their own. Eventually, still during the Pre-Warp era, a third group appeared. As the events of the Spiritual Revolution unfolded on Earth, many of the more stubborn types came to Mars in waves, resisting the reformative culture of their home and building what came to be known as 'Missions' on Mars. Life on Mars changed little over the next century and a half before the Colonial Crisis War. During this conflict, many sought refuge from wartorn Earth, and many of these dared undertake a journey to Mars, the only inhabited place that was distant enough to be safe. About a third of these refugees managed to make it to Mars, who, finding it proper to establish a 'proper' city, built Meadow, to this day still Mars' largest city. It rapidly became the economic and political heart of Mars, and in 2280 was officially codified as the planetary capital. With Meadow came also more modern Earthborne attitudes. These came about in the form of establishing not only a city but a full-fledged sovereign government. In the aftermath of the war, however, Spain received control of Mars and this initiated a new era of Mars' history under human stewardship. Spain's investments in the planetary economy resulted in two massive infrastructural undertakings, as well as a substantial increase and diversification of population. Spain also gave out land practically for free so long as the land was used. Under this administration came new settlers in the form of miners, there simply to exploit Mars' great untouched mineral wealth. The ebb and flow of miners and the places they mined created bust towns (where new veins of precious ore were discovered) and ghost towns (where the veins had been exhausted and the miners had moved on). The challenge of allowing the miners to get their goods to the spaceport in Meadow whilst also keeping them fed, hydrated, and supplied through the martian landscape resulted in the construction of the trans-planetary superhighway. It took a decade to build and was a significant investment on behalf of Meadow's fledgling government and even that of Spain. Along with this, dams and canals were built bringing Mars' limited surface water across the planet in a similar fashion, creating artificial lakes and rivers. The superhighway, really just criss-crossing magnetic rails, brought Mars together like never before. While it was still the case that much of Mars' population outside of Meadow lived in communities of no more than a few hundred, these communities soon had much tighter connections. Despite all this, the more complicated nature of Mars' growing economy created those of desperate disposition, who soon began to raid these trade lanes, stopping the maglevs with armoured cars and looting them. This necessitated the creation of Mars' local military, known as the Praetorians. With its central headquarters at Meadow, despite its good intentions it rapidly became irrelevant towards protecting the trade lanes, a job commonly performed by mercenary groups or the Martian Rangers. Rather, the Praetorians became associated as a symbolic organization for Mars as well as a defense force for Meadow and the planet itself. In due time, the mobilization of the Praetorians led the Martians to ask Spain and the greater Human Domain for military assistance with procurement of weapons and initiating a proper training regime. Spain was marginally okay with Mars building and maintaining its own army, and the FFEL soon arrived in force and established Mars as, indeed, their headquarters. 20% of uninhabited land was set aside for the construction of a military academy, Military base, and a multitude of training grounds and regimental camps. Mars thus became an important destination for students wishing to study military science and tradition. Category:Planets